Poem Protest Opens Council Meeting

Inez Garcia, convicted earlier this month for shooting the man who raped her, was sentenced to five years to to life on Monday. (For the full story of Garcia, see SUN, Issue 22, October 18).

Protests for Garcia's conviction were held across the country on the same day. In Ann Arbor, the demonstration took the form of a workshop on rape sponsored by the city's Anti-Rape Board. In addition, Council member Kathy Kozachenko wrote a poem for Inez Garcia, which was read as an invocation at the City Council meeting. Part of Kozachenko's peom follows:

My spirit was raped when they said I should be lovely, , and I knew that I was not. My soul was raped when I hungered for ideas, and they showed me pictures of kitchens and babies. My body was raped when i was walking one night, listening to birds and the music of stars. He came from behind. There was nothing l could do.... If this is done to one woman, so it is done to all. The crys of every woman merging to burn the sky. The crys of every woman breaking into song. We do not ask for vengeance. We demand the world.